A Forsaken Rose
by KanesRedemption
Summary: Betrayed by her lover. Forgotten by her friends. Renewed by a stranger. Tempted by her old life. Hope restored by a friend. AU
1. Chapter 1

Ruby Rose woke with a stretch and a yawn, her bones cracking in response to their waking from stiffness. Her sleepy eyes wandered around the room until she reached the curtain across her small room. Ruby sleepily swayed over to the curtain throwing it open and hissing when sunlight flooded into her sleeping chambers. She quickly closed the curtains, rapidly blinking her eyes to rid herself of the disorientation caused by the light. Once the disorientation had cleared, Ruby slowly opened the curtains. Small rays of light burst forth causing Ruby to turn her head away. Ruby stopped pulling the curtains ajar to allow her eyes to grow accustomed to the lights glare.

Several blinks later, Ruby's eyes adjusted to the light and she threw open the window to breathe in the fresh morning air.

"What a perfect day!" Ruby clasped her hands together, a smile to match the sun as she spun in place.

Ruby happily skipped over to the scroll on her desk, humming to herself as she went through programs to text her girlfriend, Cinder.

 _Good morning Cinder! Can we go the park later, please? I want to hear the surprise you said you had planned for me._

Ruby heard a call from below for breakfast. She rushed down the steps, her feet slid across the squeaky floor, causing her to crash into the kitchen island.

"Owww." Ruby rubbed her struck forehead, hoping the heat generated from her hands would somehow cause the injury to fade away faster.

"Ruby." Her father's stern voice resulted in the young rose shyly turning her head and smiling.

"Hey dad, I heard breakfast?" The smile did not deter the scowl on her father's face.

"What did I tell you about running down the stairs?" Ruby hung her head down.

"To not do it." Her father's blue eyes turned away for a moment, only to look back at a now empty plate with a missing Rose.

"I swear if that girl could, she would eat the plate along with the actual food." Tai shook his head, a smile replacing his scowling face.

Another mess of blond hair stumbled into the room. Yang mumbled a good morning, stretching her arms above her head to wake her limbs.

"Morning party girl, have fun last night?" Tai set a plate of breakfast down for his older daughter, Yang. Yang nodded, her eyes sparkling despite her tired appearance.

"Good." Tai set a small cup of coffee down for Yang. Tai noticed a daydreaming expression on his daughter's face. Tai's already present smiled brightened at what his daughter was lost in the clouds over.

"You found someone at the party didn't you, Yang?" Yang stopped her chewing, dropping her fork to clatter against the plate and looked panicked.

"Yang, my little sun dragon, it's alright. Don't be so worried."

Yang softly nodded, picking up her fork once more and continued to chew slowly.

"Yang, do you have a name?" Yang shook her head.

"What does she look like?" Yang shook her head once more. Tai was not going to get information about the mystery girl from Yang. He would have to try another time. He couldn't blame Yang for not talking, after the incident with the last girl. Yang needed time to get to know the girl before deciding anything. Tai sighed, pleading that the same situation that did not happen to Ruby. He'd already lost Raven, almost lost Yang and he couldn't fathom what he would do if it struck Ruby as well. He did not trust the girl Ruby was dating in the slightest, but Ruby was happy with her. If Ruby was happy then, as much as Tai distrusted her, he was happy too. Tai had no way of knowing whether or not Cinder would hurt Ruby. Time would give him his answer, the one he wanted to see he hoped.

* * *

The little red reaper happily skipped down the street, her small corgi, Zwei, running circles around the girl.

"I can't wait for what Cinder has to show me Zwei!" The small black and white corgi stepped back, taking care not to get accidentally kicked by the girl with boundless energy. Once Zwei was certain it was safe, he went back to yipping and running around Ruby. Gently, picking up the lap dog, Ruby held him equal to her face, the dog happily panted in response, licking her face once in range. Ruby giggled at what Zwei did, gently scratching his ears in response then set him down.

The young girl never got tired of all the different sights of the city, no matter how many times she saw them. She tended to rant and stare in wonder at buildings, being the engineer nerd that she is. Ruby's mother was just as big of an engineer nerd, so she was told. Ruby loved engineering, but she wanted to try out different things before settling for one field. Her skipping came to a halt, she thought about her mom. Having died in an engineering accident, Ruby was young when it happened. No one told her what accident it was, almost as if it was too painful to remember. Ruby knew her mother would be proud of her, following in her footsteps and how her life was going in general. Ruby was very happy with everything. Cinder appeared to enjoy Ruby's more child-like nature and didn't mind going along on her adventures. Ruby's smile returned upon seeing the girl in question, happily bounding over to her and shouting her name to get her attention. The amber eye's of Cinder sparkled with joy at the sound of her name.

"Hello, my little flower." Cinder smiled down as she patted Ruby's head affectionately. "How are you doing?"

"Great!" Ruby loved the small things Cinder did, like head patting.

"I'm afraid I don't have much time, I know how you are with surprises." Cinder slightly glared at the younger girl causing her to rub her head in embarrassment.

"Sorry." The reaper squeaked out in response.

Cinder shooed Ruby towards Zwei.

"Play with him, once I finish the surprise preparations, I will join you."

Ruby walked off to play with Zwei, throwing a ball she had brought in addition to chasing each other. Soon day turned into evening and evening into dusk.

"Cinder."

"Yes Ruby, I'm finished with everything. Now stop asking." Ruby knew that tone. Talking to Cinder at all would get her _heated_ very quickly.

"I know you're dying to see what the surprise is so let's go. It won't take long so no need to let anyone know."

Ruby was confused, why all of this planning if it wasn't going to take long? Cinder was weird like that, Ruby never asked about it. Cinder marched off, Ruby and Zwei close behind. The company rarely saw a soul. Ruby, however, grew more and more worried the further they went into back alleys behind business shops.

"Wait here." Cinder strolled further into the alleys.

"Wait, Cinder. I don't like it here." Her words echoed off the walls and into the sky, never to reach the ears of the target.

Ruby's fearful eyes moved from shadow to shadow. She silently prayed to herself that Cinder would be back soon. Her prayers did little as she felt something hit the back of her head. Her vision faded to black to the barking of Zwei. She caught a whisper from her attacker.

"The little rose won't be bothering you anymore Cinder."

Then Ruby understood, this is the surprise Cinder had in store for her. Cinder didn't want to face Ruby to break up and instead had people attack her. A final thought crossed Ruby's mind as she hit the floor, how much she hated Cinder.


	2. Chapter 2

At the door, Tai could hear frantic scratching and whimpering. Something was wrong, Tai threw open the door and saw Zwei putting a torn red cloth at Tai's feet. The one thing he feared would happen to Ruby had happened.

"Lead the way Zwei."

Clenching the cloth in his hand tightly, he took off after the corgi. He grew less fond of where they were going the longer he followed the dog. Ruby should've known not to enter this area, especially late at night.

The dog took a sudden turn into an alley, leading him into the maze. The sound of Zwei's barks was the only thing that kept Tai from getting lost in the labyrinth. Tai came around the final corner only to find Zwei sniffing the ground and crying.

Ruby had been taken from him right here. Tai searched the scene, but the night made it difficult to see anything properly. Not wasting another minute, Tai quickly called the police.

"Vale Police Department, what's your emergency?"

"This is Tai Xiao Long, and my daughter got kidnapped!" he said with a worried tone. "Can you urgently send someone down here to find her?"

"Yes sir, a team has been dispatched. Can you provide a description of your daughter?"

"She's roughly five feet two inches, wears a black long-sleeved dress and black combat boots with black stockings."

"Thank you, sir, we'll post a missing person notice, and a team should be arriving to you soon."

Tai didn't have to wait for long until the police arrived. Several officers stepped out of their vehicles, the chief making his way to Tai.

"Are you the one that called?"

"Yes, please help me find my daughter."

"We'll do everything we can, sir." said the chief while nodding to the officers to begin the process.

"Get the dogs out, search the area."

"Yes, sir!" The officers said in unison.

The officer's footsteps and chatter filled the alley. The investigation of the area did not last long. Tai wondered if the officers did anything.

"Based on what we found, there wasn't much evidence of a struggle, no signs of any blood."

Tai looked at the chief officer, half frustrated and half confused at what the officer was telling him.

"Meaning what?"

"Whatever happened to her, she didn't see it coming."

The officers loaded back into their cars.

"Wait- that's- thats it? You aren't going to search more?"

The officer sadly shook his head.

"Sorry sir, there isn't much more we can do with nothing to go on."

Tai looked around frantically. There had to be something, anything to help them find her. Tai realized he was holding evidence all along, the cloth.

"What about this cloth from her dress?"

The officer took the small piece of fabric from Tai's hands.

"We'll look into it but no promises. Good night sir."

With that, the officers were gone.

With Zwei trotting behind him, Tai walked lifelessly home. He felt numb, one of his treasures was gone. And gods, what was he supposed to tell Yang? Now that the sister that Yang loved so much was missing, she wouldn't be able to handle the news well. When he arrived at his home, Tai was unsure of what was going to happen and braced himself mentally. He opened the door to find Yang standing by the couch.

Yang saw the expressionless look on her father's face and knew something was wrong.

"Dad?" Tai could feel his heart breaking more, after hearing that curiosity in her voice.

"Ruby is gone, Yang. She's been kidnapped."

"You're joking right?" asked Yang as she took a step away from the couch she was leaning and put her arms to her sides. Tai shook his head in response.

"No Yang, she's gone." said Tai while stepping forward and bringing Yang's arm up. He then placed the cloth in her hand and gently closed the fingers around the scrap.

Yang stood in stunned silence. Her Ruby was gone. She could feel the sadness and anguish washing upon her, and she threw herself into the chest of her father, with her arms wrapped tight around him and loudly sobbed.

Both wept for what felt like hours, only stopping once Yang had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Tai carried his daughter to her room, brushing away the golden hair that had fallen in front of her face. He set Yang down on her bed and wrapped her in blankets. Gently place a kiss on Yang's forehead, Tai turned to leave. Something tugged on the bottom of his shirt. He looked back towards Yang, her hand gripping the shirt firmly.

"Ruby, please, don't leave me alone." Yang cried in her sleep.

Tai choked out a gasp, then he brought a chair from Yang's study desk and sat beside his crying daughter. Tai smiled softly at Yang, no longer crying but whimpering. Pulling out an extra from a closest nearby, Tai wrapped himself in the warm blanket before drifting off to sleep.

Yang was having a fantastic day because she got to spend time with her sister. They had a blast at the arcade, but it wouldn't last for long. Yang and Ruby were heading home, laughing and joking with each other when disaster struck. Ruby had gone a short distance ahead when a bomb suddenly detonated next to her, sending her catapulting across the street. Yang stared in horror, the screams and shouts of other citizens fading away. All Yang could hear was the silence and her own voice.

"Ruby!" cried Yang as she sprinted across the street to the unconscious body of her sister. Gently picking up and shaking her sister, Yang tried to wake Ruby up.

"Ruby, come on please wake up." Nothing, Ruby would not stir. Yang's tears dripped onto the stiff body of her sister. HUgging Ruby's body close, Yang screamed and wailed for someone to help bring Ruby back to life. The soot and blood covering Ruby stained Yang's attire. The dream ended and she was back at the arcade, however, the nightmare repeated the same scene with various deaths each time. Her only saving grace was when she woke up screaming.

Tai jumped up, his blanket thrown off and forgotten as his arms wrapped around Yang. Stroking her hair and telling her it was just a dream calmed her down to shaking and quiet sobbing.

"What happened, Yang?"

"I saw Ruby dying repeatedly. There was so much blood... she's not dead, right dad?" Said Yang, her voice heavy with emotion and she sniffled.

"No Yang, I do not think she is dead, only missing."

Yang threw her legs off the side of the bed, stormed past her father, and went into the bathroom.

"I'm going to get ready for school."

Tai could feel how broken Yang was. Sighing in defeat, he left the room and went downstairs to prepare breakfast. While Tai was preparing the meal, he forgot to tell one person about Ruby's disappearance. Telling Qrow that his nice was missing wasn't a conversation Tai looked forward to having. Setting the food on the table and calling Yang's name, Tai picked up his scroll and called Qrow.

Qrow finally picked up after the fourth ring, much to Tai's short patience.

"Hey Tai, looking to come drink with me this weekend?" Said the drunken voice that belonged to Qrow.

"I'm going to straight the point. Ruby's missing."

Qrow went silent. The amount of silence left Tai wondering if Qrow had hung up, but a low voice startled Tai.

"What do you mean Ruby is missing?"

"She went out to get a surprise from her date and went missing during the time they spent together."

"And how is Yang taking this?"

"She's not taking it well." Tai shook his head.

Tai heard the clanking of bottles moving around.

"I'll talk to her."

Tai breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, Qrow would get through to her.

"Thanks, Qrow."

"No problem."

Tai disconnected the call and looked at the time. His attention turned towards the stairs. Yang had come down and looked at what was set, taking a piece of toast and leaving the rest there. It was going to be a stressful time for Tai.

* * *

 **Redid this chapter, new one coming soon TM  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**There is going to be some heavy feels in this chapter, not sure if I portrayed how it feels for this situation to happen right. Did my best to try and write it though.  
**

 **Anyway new chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

The gentle air and warm sun felt nice on Yang's skin. For a moment, all of Yang's worries and problems melted away before the light of the sun. The warmth felt as if a pair of arms gently held her close, a home filled with laughter and happiness. The swelling feeling of your heart when a loved one strokes your hand. The bitter cold of reality drained away the warmth Yang felt. Ruby was missing, and there was nothing Yang could do to bring her back. Yang didn't want this feeling, but she didn't know what else to do. Yang leaned against the brick wall, and her body slid down the wall until she hit the ground with a soft thud.

Bringing her knees to her chest and burying her face into her arms, Yang began to weep. This feeling, this turmoil raged through her body, tearing her apart from the inside. She angrily screamed into her arms, threw her head back violently into the brick wall and shook her head as blood streamed down the back of it. Yang leapt to her feet and brought her fists into the metal grating on the brick wall. She needed something, anything to get rid of this torment. She ended up slamming her forehead into the metal grating and stumbled backward, clutching her head with her hands and collapsed to the floor from exhaustion.

Yang was shaken awake and heard a voice calling to her, a cry of concern. Her eyes fluttered open to see Pyrrha standing over her.

"Yang! Thank goodness you're alright!" said Pyrrha.

Yang felt the comforting arms of Pyrrha wrap around her. Pyrrha pulled away and looked over Yang.

"What happened to you? Wait, before you answer that..." Pyrrha said while taking off her jacket and wrapping it around Yang.

"Now tell me what happened." said Pyrrha, but Yang shook her head in response. Yang did not want to talk about the topic. Pyrrha, standing in confusion and worry, watched as Yang turned from her and continued the trek towards Beacon while covered in blood and dirt. Pyrrha jogged to Yang's side.

"Yang?" said Pyrrha, but the blonde girl said nothing and they walked together in silence. Pyrrha's mind began to formulate the possible problems Yang was going through. However, Pyrrha noticed something wasn't right. Ruby was not by Yang's side. Pyrrha glanced at Yang.

"This is about Ruby, isn't it?" Yang stopped and looked at Pyrrha with teary eyes.

"Oh Yang..." said Pyrrha as she wrapped her arms around Yang once more, stroking her hair and gently humming.

"She's going to be fine, don't worry." Yang shook her head into Pyrrha's arms.

"She's gone, Pyrrha, she was kidnapped." Yang let her head rest against Pyrrha, too weary to cry any longer.

Pyrrha froze. Pyrrha had so many unanswered questions. "For what purpose and why was Ruby kidnapped?" Pyrrha's arms tightened around Yang.

"Tell me everything."

Yang proceeded to Tell Pyrrha everything that had happened. The date Ruby had, the surprise her girlfriend was going to give, and the eventual kidnapping.

Pyrrha pondered about the information Yang had given to her. Was it possible that Ruby's date was part of the kidnapping? If she was either Yang or Tai would've already anticipated.

"It's all my fault." Yang whispered.

Yang leaned into the attention Pyrrha was giving to her hair. Pyrrha reassured Yang that it wasn't her fault, whoever kidnapped Ruby was at fault.

"If I had gone with her, this wouldn't have happened!" said Yang as she grabbed tightly onto Pyrrha's shirt, fearing that if she let go, her sanity would go with it.

"Yang, you weren't aware this was going to happen nor could you have known." Pyrrha said.

"I'm her sister Pyrrha I need to protect her." Yang responded.

"You can't guarantee that you would have been able to save her. Think of your father in this situation, would he not feel just as responsible as you feel now if both of you went missing?" Pyrrha raised her voice at Yang. It wasn't the best idea, but she needed to get her point across. Yang needed to hear that she was not in any way responsible for this occurrence.

"You're right Pyrrha." The pain in Yang's voice made Pyrrha want to take her statement back, but her resolve overcame the guilt she felt.

"Let's go, Yang, we're going to be late for school if we stay like this." With her arms still around Yang, Pyrrha awkwardly waddled down the concrete path.

"Yang, keeping you this close is making it difficult for me to walk, would it be alright if you walked next to me instead?" Yang moved in front of Pyrrha and latched onto her arm. Pyrrha didn't plan this in her mind when she meant walking to next Yang, but preventing Yang from having another breakdown was her priority. The duo walked along in dreary silence, arrived at Beacon in minutes. The bell that signaled the start of classes had rung a long while ago. The few remaining students that loitered in the courtyard rushed to their destinations, praying their tardiness would go unnoticed by the professors.

The duo stayed silent as Pyrrha led Yang down the massive corridors of Beacon. Pyrrha wasn't sure why the halls were this big, Beacon seemed better off as a parking garage rather than a school. After a confusing short trip, Pyrrha stood before the doors of the nurse's office. Using her free hand to knock on the door, Pyrrha turned to Yang.

"I'm going to leave you at the nurse's office while I go to class. I promise you I will be back, can you handle it?" Pyrrha said to Yang, worry laced in her voice. Yang slowly nodded in response.

"Good. I will be back for you as soon as I can. I will not leave you." Yang's throat tightened. A fleeting moment of happiness passed through her upon hearing Pyrrha's words.

The door to the nurse's office opened, and a short woman with peach colored hair stood inside, her eyes wide at the scene before her.

"Pyrrha, shouldn't you be in class? And what's going on here?" The woman shifted her eyes between the two girls.

"Professor Peach, Yang had a bit of a situation on the way to school. I won't say anything as it is personal to Yang. Can you look after her while I attend my classes?" Professor Peach focused her eyes on Yang, taking in every square inch of injury on Yang.

Pyrrha left Yang in the care of Peach. The gentle and calming voice of Peach faded into silence as Pyrrha walked away from the office. Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief, with Yang in the hands of Peach, she would be able to focus on her classes. 

* * *

Turns out, leaving Yang with Peach did nothing to soothe Pyrrha's nerves. What if Yang got aggressive and attacked? What if she ran away? Attacked other students? These issues kept Pyrrha from focusing in class. She was probably overthinking it, but the questions still bothered her nonetheless. Professor Oobleck noticed something was wrong with Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha." The mention of her name made Pyrrha jump slightly in her seat, not that it was noticeable to most.

"Is something troubling you?" Pyrrha felt the eyes of the entire class on her. This situation was something she wanted to avoid.

"It's something personal with a friend, professor. I apologize for being distracted it won't happen again." The professor eyed Pyrrha, taking a sip from his mug and turned away.

"If it's that troubling Pyrrha, you have my permission to stay with her."

Pyrrha was at an impasse, Yang desperately needed the help to cope, but she would get angry if Pyrrha sacrificed her studies to help Yang. Pyrrha weighed the advantages and disadvantages of each scenario. With her mind firmly set on the choice and determination burning deep inside of her, Pyrrha shook her head and seated herself.

"She'll be fine, professor. I know she can handle herself. She wouldn't want me cutting my studies to help her, and I wouldn't expect anything different from her."

The professor nodded and returned his focus to the lecture. The students' whispers spread like wildfire and sheepishly started writing their notes when the professor cleared his throat to draw the attention of the class. Several students occasionally glanced at Pyrrha when the professor had his back turned. Pyrrha remained fixated on her notes, despite the embarrassment, she felt with the curious stares of other students. She did get lots of stares in her sports competitions, but this felt... different. Having people stare at you after confessing something stressing was different than people watching you compete. Pyrrha hoped Yang wasn't going through as much trouble as she was.

* * *

Yang didn't visit the office frequently to tour it, only when she had to protect Ruby. At the thought of her sister, Yang's jaw tightened. Professor Peach stopped her typing and turned towards Yang.

"Yang? Are you alright?" Peach realized her mistake when Yang glared at her.

"Right, dumb question." Peach turned back to her computer to type once more. The growing silence continued until Peach sighed and spun herself towards Yang.

"Yang, what would your sister think if she saw how you are now?" asked Peach when Yang squinted at her.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Would Ruby be happy with how you're behaving?" continued Peach as Yang crossed her arms and moved away from her.

"You think I like feeling like this? I want my sister back." grumbled Yang as Peach opened her arms towards Yang.

"I can help you deal with the pain Yang."

Yang bit her lower lip as she looked between Peach and the floor, she reached out towards Peach but stopped short.

"Yang?"

"Just leave me alone." Said Yang as she withdrew back into herself. Peach set her arms down in her lap, and just like that, her chance to help Yang was gone. Peach would not give up so quickly, but what to do she wondered. The nurses' office faded back to silence as Peach awaited Pyrrha's return. 


End file.
